Indian-origin academician Sunil Kumar named as next president of Tufts University
Sunil Kumar has been named the next president of Tufts University by the Board of Trustees and will succeed president Anthony Monaco as Tufts’ 14th president on July 1, 2023, a statement from the university said on Thursday, adding that he will be first person of colour to occupy the position.
FollowEminent Indian-American academician Sunil Kumar has been appointed the next president of Massachusetts-based Tufts University, the first person of colour to occupy the position. The Board of Trustees nominated Kumar, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University, to be the next president of Tufts University. He will follow current president Anthony Monaco as Tufts' 14th president on July 1, 2023.
According to the announcement, Kumar will hold the role for the first time as a person of colour. Kumar brings to Tufts "a lifetime commitment to quality in higher education and an incredibly excellent record as a leader, teacher, and colleague," according to Peter Dolan, head of the board of trustees and the presidential search committee.
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An "excellent successor" to Monaco, Kumar's dedication to civic involvement, innovation, research, and learning will support Tufts' effort to make the world a better place, according to Dolan. Kumar, who is of Indian descent, formerly served as dean of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Creating strategies "to guarantee that we have even more resources to make Tufts as inexpensive as we can," Kumar said in the statement, will be one of his top goals as president.
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In a video released on the Tufts website, Kumar said that without the complete financial support he got while a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he would not have reached this position in life.
"I could not have done anything differently since I am the son of a police officer. And therefore, affordability is not a theoretical concept for me. I aspire to serve as an illustration of someone who profited from an establishment extending its doors wide," he added.
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(With PTI inputs)
